Phosphine ligands with chiral centers on carbon and phosphorous atoms are known in the art. A particular class of phosphine ligands are those linked by a bridge of two carbon atoms, i.e., 1,2-diphosphine ligands. Examples of 1,2-diphosphine ligands with one or two chiral centers on the carbon atoms of the bridge are PROPHOS (A) as described in J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1978, 100, 5491; and CHIRAPHOS (B) see J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1977, 99, 6262. Another type of 1,2-diphosphine ligands are those where the chiral center is on C atoms in a phospholane ring such as for example in the BPE ligand (C), described in Tetrahedron Asymmetry, 1991, 2,(7), 569. Still another type of 1,2-diphosphine ligands are those where the chiral centers are on the C and P atoms such as in compound D, described in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2002, 41(9), 1612. 